Senator: Federal grant could help ID bodies

Professor Erin Kimmerle, University of South Florida’s lead researcher, and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson speak before touring the building known as the “White House” at the now-closed Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna on Wednesday.

ANDREW WARDLOW | The News Herald

By CHRIS OLWELL / The News Herald

Published: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 08:02 PM.

MARIANNA — Officials opened the doors Wednesday to the “White House,” a building whose purpose was the discipline of boys and young men at a notorious boys’ home with a brutal legacy.

Inside one of the numerous rooms the walls were marked with red spatter and handprints. Though a previous investigation determined the red marks are not blood, they served as a striking illustration of the cruelty inflicted on the now-grown men who say they were lashed with leather straps by guards in these tiny cells years ago.

“This place has haunted many people and me personally, for a long time,” said Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters.

Walters, Sen. Bill Nelson, State Attorney Glenn Hess, and Dr. Erin Kimmerle, the University of South Florida professor who has examined the school’s records and the grounds, led a tour of grounds of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, where a team researchers led by Kimmerle hope to exhume an unknown number of bodies buried there.

Kimmerle recently reported there may be 50 unmarked graves at the school after investigating the site using underground radar technology. A previous investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found 19 fewer unmarked graves and 13 fewer deaths than the USF investigation.

MARIANNA — Officials opened the doors Wednesday to the “White House,” a building whose purpose was the discipline of boys and young men at a notorious boys’ home with a brutal legacy.

Inside one of the numerous rooms the walls were marked with red spatter and handprints. Though a previous investigation determined the red marks are not blood, they served as a striking illustration of the cruelty inflicted on the now-grown men who say they were lashed with leather straps by guards in these tiny cells years ago.

“This place has haunted many people and me personally, for a long time,” said Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters.

Walters, Sen. Bill Nelson, State Attorney Glenn Hess, and Dr. Erin Kimmerle, the University of South Florida professor who has examined the school’s records and the grounds, led a tour of grounds of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, where a team researchers led by Kimmerle hope to exhume an unknown number of bodies buried there.

Kimmerle recently reported there may be 50 unmarked graves at the school after investigating the site using underground radar technology. A previous investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found 19 fewer unmarked graves and 13 fewer deaths than the USF investigation.

“We estimated up to 50, but that number… is not really the issue,” Kimmerle said. “We’re talking about a child.”

Kimmerle called the school’s records “incomplete and full of errors.” Nonetheless, researchers have determined at least 98 deaths at the school.

Nelson, D-Florida, said the numerous reports of physical and sexual abuse need to be fully examined for the sake of the families of the boys who died there.

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and we want to find the fire,” Nelson said. “If crimes were committed, we need to know that and try to bring the responsible people to justice.”

In December, Nelson asked the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the USF research team, for assistance. Earlier this week, DOJ sent Nelson a letter advising the researchers to apply for federal funds set aside for the purpose of identifying missing persons through DNA.

Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a petition earlier this month to allow the exhumation of the bodies at the site. Bondi also successfully sought an injunction to prohibit the sale of the property, which is owned by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

If a judge allows it, Kimmerle and Dr. Michael Hunter, the Medical Examiner for the 14th Judicial Circuit, could begin exhuming bodies as early as next week.

The exhumations would allow Hunter to perform autopsies and potentially determine the cause of the death, which could lead to criminal charges against the people responsible.

But that’s an unlikely result, Hess said. He said that he’s only aware of one or two people who worked at the school who are still alive, and due to their advanced age prosecution would not be likely.

It’s not clear whether the exhumations will lead the team to the identity of each person buried there, and that unknown bodies will be reinterred. Kimmerle said she is not involved in any plans to memorialize the burial site.

“We’re hoping the county and local residents will work together on a plan for that,” she said.

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